Until it became too ragged, Daniel Bard used to wear a black T-shirt around the Red Sox clubhouse with “I’m That Dude” across the front.

He was that dude, too, one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. Bard had a triple-digit fastball and a treacherous slider, pitches that produced a 2.88 earned run average over a three-season span starting in 2009.

During that time, Bard struck out 213 batters over 197 innings while allowing only 132 hits. Jonathan Papelbon received more attention because he was the closer, but Bard often had the more difficult assignments.